William sowdon



(No Model.)

, W. SOWDON. DUPLIGATE WHIST APPARATUS.

No. 530,665. Patented Dec. 11, 1894.

UNITED STATES "PATENT OFFICE.

WVILLIAM SOVVDON, OF-NEW YORK, Y.

DUPLICATE-WHIST APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 530,665, dated December11, 1894.

Application filed April 22, 1893. Serial N- 47L4 69f (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM SOWDON, of New York city, in the county andState of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inDuplicate-Whist Apparatus, of which the following is aspecification.

The object of my invention is to produce a simpleand cheap apparatus forplaying the game known as duplicate whist, and which apparatus at thesame time shall take up the least space and may be carried about withthe cards with which the game is intended to be played with the leastpossible inconvenience, and in the accompanying drawings forming a parthereof, I have illustrated one embodiment of my invention, in which-Figure l is a top view in isometric perspective of a box or receptacledivided into three compartments, each compartment containing a deviceshown. in detail in Fig. 4, said device being repr'esented in Fig. 1 inthe position in which it will be used to support or provide a rest forthe cards or hands of cards when played. Fig. 2 is a View similar toFig. 1, showing the divided receptacle with the rests or supports shownin Fig. 1 upon which are placed the dividers adapted to maintainseparate the several hands of cards when played, as will be hereinafterexplained. Fig.

3 is a sectional view taken through line m-w of Fig.- 2. Fig. 4. is anenlarged detail View of one of the combined lifting means and supportsfor the packs or separate hands of cards; and Fig. 5 is a sectional viewof abox like that shown in Figs. 1 and 2 showing the lifting means orsupport shown in Fig. 4 in the position in which it is with a pack ofcards placed thereon when thecards are not in use.

It is assumed that the game of whist is well-known, and withoutexplaining the rules of that game in this specification, but referringimmediately to the apparatus embodying my invention for use inconnection with such game, in the drawings A represents a box orreceptacle constructed of any suitable material divided intocompartments, three compartments being represented in the draw- .ingsFigs. 1 and 2, and in each of which compartments is adapted to be placeda separate pack of cards and while the drawings illustrate only one box,it is to be understood that to comprise a complete duplicate whistapparatus within the spirit of my invention, four of such boxes may beused, and each box divided into three compartments, so that there may becontained in the four boxes, twelve separate packs of cards, that numberof packs being not unusual in the game of duplicate whist; and it isalso to be understood that, any further number of boxes may be used, andthat each box may be divided into a greater or less number ofcompartments. The box may also be constructed of any convenient size andshape, but preferably of the shape shown in the drawings, and preferablyalso of pasteboard, and these boxes are designed to be supplied withcovers of any convenient character, as sliding or lifting.

B is a device consisting of three parts or portions (1., a, c, and inthe method of its construction shown in the drawings, this deviceconsists of a piece of pasteboard bent in the manner shown in Fig. 4, soas to form the three distinct portions a, b, c, and in order to preservethe bent places from fracture and to provide a hinge and supporttherefor, one side of this pasteboard piece is lined for a portion ofits distance, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, with. crash, canvas, linen orother suitable material D, as will be readily understood; and one ofsuch devices is placed in each compartment'of the receptacle A, and whenthe game is not being played, such device is placed in position in thecompartments as shown in Fig. 5, with the cards 0 placed thereon, sothat by taking hold of the portion a and lifting it up the pack of cardsmay be readily taken out of the boxes.' When the cards have been thusremoved,the position of the devices, or as I will call them, rests,

is reversed, as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, and they are placed over oneedge of the boxes, one of such rests in each compartment, one end of theportion a resting on the bottom of the box A, the hinged portion of therest, between a and b, engaging with the upper edge of one side of thebox A, the portions b and c hanging over the side of the box and thelower edge of the portion 0 resting upon the table or other platformupon which the boxes are placed.

In playing the game of whist, as the hands are played they must be keptseparate, and in order to do so I provide dividers F, shown in Fig. 2,of such dimensions that they may be packed within the compartments ofthe boxes and preferably appropriately lettered, numbered or otherwisemarked or designated, so as to distinguish them from each other, thedividers shown in the drawings being numbered in rotation, preferablyone to twelve, only four of such dividers, however, being shown in thedrawings, and each of these dividers may be further marked as shown inthe drawings to indicate the hand played as hand-1, hand-2, hand3, &c.,and as each hand is played the player places divider No. 1 (or thedivider which is intended to denote that one hand has been played),

upon one of the rests in one of the compartments in box A, and upon thisdivider he places the band played; and when another band has been playedhe places another divider on the previous hand of cards, and upon thissecond divider he places the second hand played, and he continues thisuntil he has consumed his dividers, arranging the dividers between theseparate hands in the several compartments of box A as he desires. Theserests when in the position shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, act as supportsnot only for the cards but also for the dividers, holding up the cardsand dividers in inclined position with one edge at the top of the box sothat they may be readily inspected and handled.

Thus each of the hands played are kept separate, and when the wholenumber of packs of cards have been consumed or when the whole number ofhands or games are played as may be desired, the boxes containing theseparate hands are shifted, preferably so that the pen sons who arepartners in one series of games will take the boxes containing the handswhich their opponents had in the previous series of games and will playwith the hands which their opponents had, thereby duplicatingthe gamefrom which the name of the gameis derived.

As before stated, any number of boxes may be employed, divided into anynumber of compartments, there being an according number of rests; andthere may also be any number of dividers and if desired these dividersor the several sets of dividers may be variously colored, as well as orwithout being marked, so as to distinguish them from each other. Each ofthe four or more boxes are also numbered,

boxes Original west-Duplicate north, and

the persons playing the game will use the appropriate box according totheir position with relation to the points of the compass, after whichmanner the boxes are marked as just stated.

WhileI have described myinvention in connection with the game known asduplicate whist, it is to be understood that my invention 7 may beemployed for use in other games, and I therefore intend to includewithin the spirit of my invention every embodiment of it for use in anygame or analogous purpose; and

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

1. The combination withagame box divided into two or more compartmentsadapted to hold one or more packs of cards, of a rest consisting of afiat piece having an angular extension atone end thereof, so constructedthat it may be used to lift the packs from the box and adapted tosupport the separate packs of cards in the several compartments in aninclined position, substantially as set forth.

2. "An apparatus for use in games of cards consisting of a box orreceptacle divided into separate compartments, dividers to separate thediiferent hands of cards, and rests each consisting of a flat piecehaving an angular extension at one end thereof so constructed that itmay be used to lift the packs of cards from the box, said rests beingadapted to support the separate packs and dividers in the several compartments in an inclined position, substantially as set forth.

' 3. In a box for use in games of cards, the rest consisting of theflatportions a, the angular extension b and the upper rim 0, said restbe ing adapted to lift the packs of cards from the box and to supportthe packs of cards in an inclined position, substantially as set forth.

This specification signed and witnessed this 15th day of April, A. D.1893.

WILLIAM SOWDON.

In presence of--- E. M. TAYLOR, M. GIBSON.

